Meanwhile
by Jameson
Summary: My take on what the heck Surfer was doing during the Daemon invasion!!! An adventure where he meets some old friends and helps secure systems from the viral bane


Reboot:  Meanwhile 

            Web surfing at the time of the viral uprising was not a pretty business.  In fact, Ray Tracer had landed himself in a very sticky situation.  He was being tailed through the net by nearly fifty guardian spacecraft with their guns focused directly on him.  Of course, he hadn't put himself in this position without good cause.  He'd come through the net, fighting viral guardians, driving them from systems, peoples, and cities on assignment from Mainframe.  His format was Search Engine, and he used his portal-making powers to contain and expel viral guardians from isolated systems, then seal and secure them on his way out.  He had moved through several of these systems, running into new people and fortifying them quickly against the Daemon forces before leaving them with a "G'day and G'luck!"  He traveled unarmed; weapons weren't really his style.  He was more of a daredevil than a soldier, that was why he'd stuck to the outer rim of the net and let the hard-hitters like Matrix and AndrAIa tackle the big systems.  Now, however, it seemed like he'd made enough enemies that the entire guardian fleet patrolling his wing of the net was after him.  And they had found him.  Things were looking down.

            A megaphone blared from atop the lead transport.  "Attention, sprite, surrender or face deletion!"

            "Wow, tough choice."  He smirked.  The convoy responded with a blast from the top mounted pulse cannon, which he swerved to avoid.  "Well, Ah can see they can' taike a joke."

            The guardian megaphone echoed again.  "We have identified your PID as Ray Tracer.  There is no hiding from our intelligence forces, surrender or die!"

            "Ah don't fancy turnin' viral!"  Surfer called back.  "And Ah'm not about t' give up and let you all infect me!"

            "Then, Ray Tracer, prepare to meet your fate."  The guardian stated.  He turned to his fellow officer in the transport with him and retracted the megaphone.  "Send a signal through to all ships.  Fire at will.  I want that sprite blown to data dust, got that!?!"

            "Copy that, sir!"  The other said, opening the link.  Veins of green pulsed on his face as he related.  "All units!  Permission granted to fire at will!  Aim to delete!  Over!"

            Surfer glanced back to see pulse cannons rise from the hulls of every ship in the convoy.  They all shimmied on their axis to target him out in front.  "Oh boy, this doesn't look good."  He quickly turned ahead as, on the front unit's command, the convoy opened fire.

            It was a hailstorm of deadly energy moving through the netscape all around him.  He couldn't surf and look back at the same time, so he had to rely on luck and maneuvering as he strafed in all directions to avoid the fire.  It seemed hopeless.  Beams barely graced him and his surfboard as he dodged the hundreds of pulses blasting in succession.  In a last-ditch attempt, he nosed down and dipped low and to the left, using the momentum to kick in as much speed as possible.  Unfortunately, the guardians merely mirrored his actions.  System portals whizzed by, most too far out of the way to escape into and more than likely filled with viral drones.  He grew steadily more nervous as the shots became more and more accurate.  With a sigh, he began to count the nanos until the tailing ships would finally hit their target.

            "Ray!!"

            He had heard his name, and glanced around.  All he could see were the streaks of deadly energy as they flew past him, their burning static muting his ears.  But he was sure he'd heard someone.  He leaned aside to look straight below him.  There was a young woman.  She was a chrome-plated silicon guardian angel in the form of a fellow Search Engine on a net scooter.

            "Ray!!!!"

            "Rendera!?"  He couldn't believe his eyes, but had no time to think.  The sprite below waved for him to follow her.  

            "This way!"  She zoomed off downward and to the right.  He had no objections and pulled a sharp about-face to follow her.  The guardian ships fell out of formation, but quickly re-grouped and took up the chase.

            "What happened!  What else is out there!?"  The commanding guardian cried. 

            "We have visual confirmation of a second sprite aiding the target!"  His accomplice reported.

            "Tell the men to delete her, too!"  The commander roared.

            His inferior saluted quickly.  "Roger that, sir!"

            Surfer pulled up near Rendera's net scooter as firing was resumed from behind.  "May Ah ahsk where we're going!?!"  
            "There's a small system just ahead!"  She called back, then pointed to a static, unstable orb some ways ahead of them.  "It's just through that tear!"

            They approached quickly, trying not to get shot and gaining speed to put as much ground between them and the guardians as possible.  The tear stood out among the stable portals of the net, and as they closed in, Rendera used one hand to send a stream of energy into it.  It bubbled and became a portal, itself.

            She turned to the surfer with urgency.  "Hurry!"

            "Roight!"  He ducked low to increase speed, and they shot through the doorway into the system.  Once inside, they screeched to a halt and Rendera sealed the portal closed.  The doorway collapsed and became a tear again, just nanos before the guardians could get in.  

            The two of them hovered, panting, and relieved with their newfound safety.  Rendera turned her silicon face to Surfer with a smile.  "Well, well, Ray Tracer, you've been out of the loop for a long time."

            "Ah suppose so."  He shrugged, finding the remark strangely out of place.

            "I want to hear all about you." The other said, she started toward the system below, but paused to beckon him along.  "Come on, let's go find a place to catch up."

"Ah really can't stick around," Surfer said, "Ah'm on assignment."

            "Come on, do you really think those guardians are going to let you out?"  Rendera said, with a strange sense of humor.  "You are public enemy number 1 around here!  You and those Mainframers.  They'll never let you out of this system."  She winked at him.  "Come on, you can't leave now, let's talk."

            He shook his head, his shoulders sagging.  "Alroight, but somehow I feel loike I'm a prisoner."  She led him down into the city.  It was more of a town than a city, the place was very small and surrounded by a broad field of green.  Unfortunately, nearly half of the sectors were nullified.  "It looks loike this system's had some bad game luck."

            "You're right."  She said.  "The people of this system lost tons of games until a guardian came to protect them."

            "Gahdian!?"  Surfer asked.  "Is he viral?"

            "Couldn't tell you," she said, "I never met him.  One day, before I even came here, the guardian up and left.  I suspect that he probably was infected and he rushed off to join ranks with Daemon's forces, but some think that he was captured or killed by the local system virus."

            "Local virus!?"

            "I'll explain when we touch down, okay?"  She called back.  Flying past the debris-strewn, nullified, plains, and over a rift, they beheld what the town really looked like.  It was like passing from darkness into light as they moved down toward what looked to be a small farming town.  The principal office sat on a little bit of a hill bordering a nullified sector.  It looked to be built of old, weathered brick.  Binomes and Numerals walked the streets, they looked up, fascinated as the two of them sailed up the main street.  

She turned a corner and some of the residents called.  "Hey, Ren!?  Who's your friend!?"

"Is it one of those Mainframe people!?"  Another asked.

"Oooie!!"   One zero binome cried.  "It looks like Ren hooked a good one!  Yessir!"

Ray called up to her again as they traveled at a casual speed past simple buildings.  "They seem to know you pretty well, here, Rendera, I never pegged you as the small-system type."

"You know, you're right."  She answered him.  "I wouldn't have thought I'd be here either, but I am."  She coasted to a stop in front of a corner diner and hopped off her scooter.  "This is where I like to hang out and log off, come on in."

"Heh, kinda loike at home."  He propped up his surfboard against the wall outside, and followed her in.  A numeral three met them at the door.

"Miss, Rendera, your usual booth?"

"Yes, thanks Trio."  She answered.  The numeral led them to the corner booth where Rendera ushered him into the seat.  She sat across from him.  "So, Ray, what have you been up to?"

It seemed like a pathetically obvious question, but he leaned back and attempted to answer casually anyway.  "Wagin' a tireless war against a supervirus."  He got serious suddenly.  "And the'ah's still a lot left to do.  Thaht's why Ah'm anxious to get on my waiy."

"Oh, I don't want to hear about that."  She laughed.  He turned a stern expression to her.  Seeing that he looked rather put-off, she corrected herself.  "I mean, not now at least, I want to hear about *you* you.  About what you've been doing since school.  I want to know everything!"

He wiped his hands over his face and leaned forward.  When he looked up, he said.  "Look, Rendera, Ah don't – Ah know we went to school together, but I really don't know you that well, and Ah'm uncomfortable talkin' loike this when there's so much Ah 'ave to do!"

Rendera ignored the end of his statement.  "Then let's start again and get to know each other now."  She extended on silicon hand.  "I'm Rendera Plane."

He shook it, halfheartedly with his gloved hand.  "Ray Tracer."

"There, now that we've been formally introduced, tell me about yourself."  She said, putting her metal chin in her metal hands.

He shook his head in frustration.  "Rendera…"

"Please," she interrupted him, "call me Ren, all my friends do."

"Okaiy, Ren,"  He said.  He sensed that escape was hopeless.  He'd become a prisoner of her instead of the system.  Her and her ever-present curiosity.  "Now thaht we're "Friends" call me Surfer."

"Surfer!?!"  To his surprise, she looked disgusted.  "What an ugly name!  Why would you want to be called that!?"

He frowned a bit.  "It's kind of a nickname they call me in Mainframe."

"How would you pick up a stupid nickname like that?" She asked.

Her frankness was nearly rude, but he kept cool


End file.
